Daruma
by Toriano.Flacko
Summary: One story inside of another inside of another; confusing, isn't it? When Malchior decides to have a little fun, he gets so much more than he bargained for. Malchior/Beast Boy/Raven centered,no listed pairings,rating may change in the future.
1. BBR

**cRaZyMaN676 Reportin' 4 Duty!**

_Hmm, I don't THINK I own the Teen Titans. What say you?_

Okay, guys, lets try something DEFINITELY different. Arc 01: Let's Get This Party Started! BEGIN!!

**Daruma**

**Chapter 1: Bang Bang, Reality  
**

_He didn't awaken slowly that day, but suddenly, with_ _a start._

"Come on, Raven!"

_Even in the darkness, which took away his sight, what passed for his ears picked up the muffled voice through the layers between them._

"I heard you say that you don't wanna go, but you gotta get out of the house sometime, don't you?"

_Hmm... He could feel the power within him rising; nowhere near enough to grant him escape on it's lonesome. Possibly enough to allow him to ignore the voice outside and heckle his prisoner for the next couple of days straight. Wishing he could frown, he tried to flip over in the cramped chest._

"I know you're in there! I can _smell _you, so don't act like you don't hear me!"

_And then... wait, where was the agitated sigh that usually happened by now? The voice was obviously directed at her, right? Was the witch actually not there, outside of the box?_

"That's it, I'm not moving from this door until you answer me, Raven. The others won't leave until you or me come down, so..." _A muffled thudding started up, somewhere else in the darkness._

_He contemplated, choosing his words carefully, prudently as the gears grinded in his head. Even if what he was thinking **was **true, could it be possible? He mentally smacked his forehead - he was a freaking magical dragon trapped in a book by a demoness he'd thought that he'd aptly seduced, who, by the way, lived with a strange metal man, an even more strange orange girl, a guy too conflicted to always be a good leader and an annoying green... thing; what **wasn't **possible?_

_"I'm sorry, Raven is unable to reply at the moment. May I take a message?"_

_A sharper thud and a whisper of movement._

_"Well, that probably needs a bit of explanation. It's not as if the girl doesn't **want **to answer your question, it's more like she **can't**."_

"Who... Malchior?" _Was that a growl he heard or the door swishing open?_

_"Oh, don't worry, it's not like your dear Raven is **dead.** At least, not yet, anyways."_

"What did you do to her?" _The question was so soft, yet threatening and so much closer, that it gave him pause._

_"... That is none of your concern, boy**.**" Who's voice was that? Hadn't he heard it before? "Be more worried about what I **will** do to her, once I am free again!"_

_Silence. Then:_

"Not if I've got anything to say about it." _Definitely a growl._

_"Ha," he coughed, holding in a painful laugh. "What can a mere human like yourself do to stop me, a god?"_

"If I remember right, Raven is just a bit more than human and she kicked _your _dumb ass back into that book. Or am I mistaken? And the last time I checked, gods were a _little _stronger than a few teenage superheroes."

_He could hear something- what was it, bitter disdain?- in the voice, something he didn't quite understand. He clicked what passed for his tongue and sighed. _

_"So arrogant... As you should know, the **girl **is no longer of consequence to me. You see, at this very moment I am eradicating her power as an obstacle to me as we speak. You could say I'm erasing everything she is or ever was from her existing memory; when she awakens, after I have conquered your "world," she will either serve as my loyal queen or die. While **you **remain powerless to stop it." Maybe he'd gone a little overboard. He was starting to believe this story himself._

_Then again, it wasn't a **complete **lie. He actually would have the strength to escape and overpower the demoness, even in his limited form... in a few years, give or take a month or two. And that was if she didn't realize that she needed to drain what little power he regained at regular intervals as a precautionary measure._

_Which, of course, she hadn't yet, but let's not jinx that thought._

"'Powerless,' says you." _Suddenly there was light! Accustomed to the darkness of his chest, his eyes squint-glared at the figure before him. _"'After I save her I'm gonna rip you to shreds', says I."

* * *

She was meditating on the roof when she felt the universe tilt on it's side. The effect was so immediate, she fell out of her trance and onto her backside, wincing at the fall, wondering a single question.

_What the hell just happened?_

Of course, it wasn't like the question would be answered by itself, so she stretched a bit before sinking down through the roof. So focused was she on locating the source of such a shift in balance that she didn't notice the shadowed creature elsewhere on the roof. The shadowed creature that had been watching her for the last couple of hours. If she had noticed it, she might have prevented it all from happening right then, right there.

But she didn't. Smiling at the demoness' ignorance, the creature slipped through the floor, right behind her.

* * *

Now, Beast Boy didn't figure himself to be an idiot, per se, but something was definitely strange about the situation. For some reason, he was in Raven's room (identifiable only by how dark and... _unsettling_ it was), and he wasn't getting thrown through the window. Or against the walls. Why would that be? The tattered book on top of the chest before him could account for that. He blinked.

But _why _was he here again? Last he remembered, he had been asking; no, _begging_ the empath for the second half-hour straight, to come down to the beach with him and the others. Why? She hadn't gone the week before and had just about promised to come this time (if death-threats could be interpretable as promises, or in this case, duh) if only Beast Boy would stop asking that time.

Maybe she'd been having problems that day to be so rash, who knows? All he cared about was not letting her get away with it this time. So why hadn't he checked the roof first? Yeah, why _hadn't _he done that... Well, the creepy-slick voice in his head kind of stopped him, but that wasn't all. Oh, wait, _that's _what he was doing here...

Right then.

The changeling blinked at the silver object as it moved of it's own free will. He blinked as it came to rest, however momentarily, on the cover of the book. Then his mind was struck by three simultaneous questions.

_1: Isn't that Malchior's book?_

_2: Why am I worried about that being Malchior's book? It's safe in Raven's room, right?  
_

_3: Wait, isn't that my hand?_

Before any semblance of an answer registered with his consciousness, the book opened, and... He was dragged, headfirst, into his own personal hell.

* * *

_He blinked, not startled, but overwhelmed by what had just happened. Was it just him, or did he sense something happening? Why was it quiet now? Why was he in darkness again? And... what was this power fading from the air?_

_He pondered these questions for all of a second. Now that he thought about it, after all these years, wasn't it peculiar that **that **certain magician had imprisoned him in such a trivial thing as a book? Even if the world was full of magic, such a thing was improbable, right? He felt a shiver of memory. Hadn't he caught a glimpse of the cover before being captured?_

_But... no, even if such a thing happening was possible, that **couldn't **be right. No way would such a self-righteous fool as Rorek go so far to imprison him... But then again, he **had **been foolish enough to face him, the Great Malchior. Still... the Tome of the Cursed was nothing to be trifled with, as was it's master, even** he** knew that... And it couldn't be possible that that was his prison..._

_But **then**, what had just happened to his entertainment as of moments ago? He'd never admit it aloud, but for once he hoped that he was wrong and the magician wasn't as crazy as he looked. If he wasn't wrong... well, he'd just have to stay awake for a long time yet. He'd been lucky so far, but as long as he didn't fall asleep again..._

_Wait... if he was right, then hadn't the boy just..? _

If leather-bound books could have facial tics, he was growing a garden of them on this one.

_'Damn the hero, and damn me for egging him on! Aw, Mal, how are you going to get out of this one?!'_

So concerned was the dragon with what was going on _inside_ the book, he took no notice of the powers clashing _outside_ of it. Even if he had, he couldn't have done anything about it.

But he'd wish that he had.

* * *

Raven grunted as she held the shield of energy up to the barrage, focusing all her strength. What _was _this thing? Just as she had been about to enter her room, the seeming source of the imbalance, she had been attacked by this... _thing._ She backed up another step, the foot of her injured leg hitting the door. _'Of course,'_ she thought to herself sarcastically, _'of course I would run out of room **now**.'_

Seeing as she had few other viable options, she finally mustered the presence of mind to speak.

"What _are _you?!" Dammit, why wasn't her magic having any effect? It seemed all she had been doing, all she _could_ do was block! And even _that _was draining her faster than it should have. The thing stepped forward, hood still down over it's face, claws still pumping out a blinding ray.

"I am the emissary of the Ancient One. All must bow before his power, as all will. Whoever stands in his way shall perish."

"Right, you _said _that. What I _meant _was," at this she let down her shield for a second to dive to the side, only to come back up, still blocking. "Why are you _here_?" Why wasn't anyone else coming? Usually it was all she could do to keep them away from her room, but now that she was in trouble? Hadn't the alarm gone off by now?

"I am here to reclaim that which belongs to him. You did well in hiding it from me, but you had no chance of keeping it from the eyes of the Master."

"What are you _talking _about?" Okay, the bad news? Her shield was getting wavy, and most definitely wouldn't last another minute. The worse news? Her leg was _killing _her. The extremely bad news? Her opponent didn't even seem to be exerting himself(itself?) that much.

And the good news? _What _good news?

"The Tome of the Cursed. _His _Tome of the Cursed. The tome that he wants _back_."

"I don't... know..." Her aura cracked. "What... you're..." Splintered. "Talking..." It shattered, and the beam slammed through her stomach. The thing cocked it's head, quickly ending the ray as it walked forward.

"You did well, Guardian Raven, for a novice of the Dark Arts. Still, you had no chance at stopping me." What was that? She was still breathing? No... she was still very much alive. "I suppose it wouldn't do to just kill you. However, neither can I let you roam free to hide the tome again."

The last thing the empath saw from her position on the floor was the thing kneeling before her, claw reaching towards her face...

Darkness.

* * *

**cRaZyMaN676, yo!!**


	2. IOU

**cRaZyMaN676 Reportin' 4 Duty!**

_Alright, people, totally sorry about the delay! This has been sitting up here for bout a month now; BB tried to run away with the story for a while there. When I finally figured out he took it... he had forgotten where he buried it. SORRY!! Just for that, BB, you do the disclaimer._

_BB: Nooo!!!_

_Raven: It's your own fault._

_BB: Whatever. cRaZyMaN676 does not own the Teen Titans in any way, shape, or form and if you copy this plot somewhere (and he finds you) he will end you._

_Nice finishing touch there._

_BB: Finally! Someone who appreciates humor!!_

_Still gonna kill you when this is all over._

_BB: Aw, man..._

Okay, guys, lets try something DEFINITELY different. Arc 01: Let's Get This Party Started! CONTINUE!!

**Daruma**

**Chapter 2: Infiltration, Overestimation, Understatementization  
**

"Yo, BB!" The green man looked up as he entered the room, a look of surprise and confusion on his face. "Took you long enough, we were gonna leave without you! Where's Raven?"

"Yes, Friend Beast Boy, did you not say that you would bring her down even if you had to drag her with you whilst she was in meditation?"

"What? He said that? Naw..." The current subject of the conversation looked on as he continued scanning the memories absorbed from the Guardian via her chakra gem. For the moment, he thought, it was more prudent to ignore the others' words since he made no sense of them anyway, than to jump in at any time and say something... _uncharacteristic_, for his current form.

He had specifically chosen this form from the Guardian's memories, not only because it had been his gender in the first place, and required fewer changes to his physique, but also since, this... _BB_, as he had been called, bore a startling resemblance to his master, both in word of mouth and body.

Plus, if the Guardian were to somehow come back to face him (unlikely), this would probably be the best form for getting by her unnoticed.

Maybe. However, now that these other, possibly more powerful Guardians had appeared, and were questioning him so diligently about their friend, thought, he questioned his own decision. Maybe it hadn't been such a good idea after all?

"Well... not exactly... He said that she had _promised_ him, last week, that she would definitely come this time, and if she was going to break her promise then he would bring her down or die trying, but that is essentially the same thing, correct?" He focused on the redhead, floating female. The larger of the two others had called her... Star? As in Starfire?  
_  
Alright then, she's an alien princess; her rank could not purely be by birth or by chance. Her innocent demeanor must be an attitude honed through the years to draw the enemy into a lull of security. She definitely has a way with words, a way that rivals even that of the Ancient One, therefore I shall not underestimate neither her ruthlessness nor her cunning. Do not give any reason to be suspicious around her._

"Pretty much, even if he was exaggerating!" A deep voice answered, and he turned as subtly as possible, hoping that there wasn't a mind-reader among them. "We're lucky he' even down here if he actually tried!" He now switched his gaze to the more shiny of the three, who was struggling not to laugh. He hadn't been named yet, but it was safe to assume that this was... Robin. No, wait, if bird-robins weren't blue or silver, why would this one be? He blinked, mentally shaking his head. _'Whatever,'_ he thought to himself as he came up with an assessment, _'he is the largest, so he is obviously the leader.'_  
_  
Next, Robin (question mark). An enigma in and of itself, er... himself? His jolly attitude must contrast with his spirit in battle. Seems to constantly wear armor, so is either insecure about his body or holding back his full power for more endurance. Ingenious, either way. **Do not get on his bad side until more is known.**  
_  
"Well, obviously he didn't Cyborg. But since you _were_ up there so long, BB," he now felt three pairs of eyes focus on him, one as-of-yet unrecognized, "where _is_ Raven?" 'Beast Boy' stalled with a hum for a second, taking a moment to compile a sensible answer from the borrowed memories.

"I knocked for a while, but she didn't answer. Didn't go in 'cuz I got some creepy vibes; guess she's doing something important in the 'Spirit World' or something." The answer seemed to satisfy them, but only served to get _him_ concerned. Those were _not_ the words he had carefully chosen to say, and the words even felt foreign to the mouth he was using. That probably meant that this 'Beast Boy' would not have said something like that, but still...

"So you are not coming with us to the beach of much silicon-ness and fun and running with us as we planned earlier today, Beast Boy?" He wasted precious seconds attempting to patch the undoubtedly veiled question could have meant. Even when all possible death threats had been sorted out of the equation, his best answer was the one that had come to his mind naturally.

"... Que pasa?"

"What?" The orange girl seemed confused; a likely story.

"You're wearing your uniform again, grass stain. You stayin' 'cuz ya think _they're_ still hangin' around, huh? I don't blame ya, man." The cryptic question-and-answer from Cyborg (question mark) easily baffled him.

"Who?" The metal man smirked and he went cold. Had he _already_ been discovered? Well, this time?

"Your _fan-girls_, man, remember? I _told_ you, the first week we got here, man, we had ours, you'd get yours soon. It's more than you thought, ain't it?" Wordlessly, he nodded, hoping that was the right answer. "Yeah, B, I _still _don't know how they followed us all the way from Tokyo. They must really like you, _we_ don't even get chased around by our fans anymore! Now that we're on the subject, what's your take on it, Robin?"

Within a second, the window somehow transformed into a giant multi-colored swirl like people only see in animes during the weird monologue/gag sequence, with the metal man, now identified positively as Cyborg, in the center of the room in front of it, now wearing a suit and holding a microphone towards the one now identified as Robin. Meanwhile, the acrobat smirked ruefully as he took the mic.

"Well, Cy, my first guess would be that, back in Tokyo, the fan girls in question loaded him with tracking devices shortly before we came back to the states. However, unless they all hijacked the same airliner and even one of them knew how to fly it, I have no clue how they got here. Then again, although they might have just been really good swimmers and followed the T-Ship, I'm pretty sure somebody would have noticed it. Unless... unless they trained an army of ninja-flying-monkeys to fly them over here, I got nothin'.

"Well, no, I have another idea, but it involves particle phasers, which you haven't even gotten around to inventing yet, so I know it's impossible. Back to you, Tin Man."

The green teen blinked hard and he saw that the background was now gone, replaced by the giant window once again. In front of the window, the larger man was rolling on the floor laughing while the alien girl floated above him, giggling hesitantly at first, but soon the 'joy of laughter' (as she would say) by itself took hold. Meanwhile, the other teen looked on from atop the couch in mild amusement.

"Dude, come on, I know I wasn't _that_ funny..."

"Man, you are _definitely_ spending way too much time around the grass stain; he's starting to rub off on ya!" Said grass stain was already on the next assessment.  
_  
Lastly, the true Robin. Seems to be a modest inducer of chaos, with perfect control over the art. Most possibly the comedian of the group. Will probably be easier to fool, but even when his friends relax, he's still a bit tense. Must have a deadly secret they don't know about.. Prudent to be careful around him as well, all the same.  
_  
Having forgotten his current surroundings for the moment, he looked up to see the face of 'Robin' as a depiction of horror.

"But... but," he stuttered, too occupied freaking out to be scared. Or was it the other way around? Whatever. "I haven't even... why me?!"

While Starfire comforted the now-distressed Robin over by the door, leading him down to the garage, Cyborg turned back to the changeling.

"So? You comin' or not, man? It's gonna be lonely keeping the lovebirds off each other now."

The creature he was referring to thought the offer over carefully. Before he could stop it, though, an answer came of it's own will, however weird that sounds.

"On one condition."

"What?"

"I drive!" He didn't even have the time to register what he'd just said before he'd taken off down the stairs to the hall below, the shocked metal man shortly behind. He wasn't going to fight it, though; if whatever was prompting these spontaneous urges made him fit in, unnoticed, then he would go with the flow with as little resistance as possible. Offhandedly, he thought of his mission.

_Ah, best not to worry about it. Although the Ancient One does not normally tolerate lateness, he would become very angry if I failed. Besides, he never gave a specific deadline, and this will help with my cover until I get around to finding the Tome, so why not? With the dark Guardian subdued, there will be less trouble finding it._

_Besides, nobody had ever said that she would have it with her? When I attacked, she had probably been heading down to meet the others, from what they had told him. Did that mean that one of them has it? No matter, he would find it soon enough. For now, he had time to kill._

"You are **not** driving my baby anywhere today you tofu-eatin' nut!!" He merely grinned back at the agitated man behind him, not even slowing down.

"We'll see about that, Tin Man!" He let out a genuine laugh as the hallway ended in a doorway of bright light, diving on instinct towards the shocked couple entering the Cy-Car.

So overcome was the impostor by following the instincts, enjoying the emotions, and getting by unnoticed in this form, he never stopped to ponder just _where_ the "natural" reactions were coming from. Nor did he stop to consider where the being he had chosen to impersonate happened to be.

This would later prove to be his first, and worst, mistake.

* * *

**cRaZyMaN676, yo!!**


	3. Arc 02, Chapter 1: CAPRI

**cRaZyMaN676 Reportin' 4 Duty!**

_Alright, people, totally sorry about the delay! This has been sitting up here for bout a month now; BB tried to run away with the story for a while there. When I finally figured out he took it... he had forgotten where he buried it. SORRY!! Just for that, BB, you do the disclaimer._

_BB: Nooo!!!_

_Raven: It's your own fault._

_BB: Whatever. cRaZyMaN676 does not own the Teen Titans in any way, shape, or form and if you copy this plot somewhere (and he finds you) he will end you._

_Nice finishing touch there._

_BB: Finally! Someone who appreciates humor!!_

_Wasn't a joke to me, and I'm still gonna kill you when this is all over. So stop smiling.  
_

_BB: Aw, man...  
_

Okay, guys, lets try something DEFINITELY different. Arc 2: The Sleepy Hollow, BEGIN!!

**Daruma**

**Chapter 3: Clear And Presently Rescripted Insanity**

When she heard the motor crank, list, then suddenly roar to life, the first words to cross her mind were: _'Damn those idiots and their love of loud racing games. Can't you see I'm meditating here?!'_

When the sun burned it's way through her eyelids, forcing her to see red (the motor long-since having toned down to a pleasant hum), she thought: _'Either I've been sitting here for a while or somebody's about to get hurt. And I **don't** mean me.'_

When the pins-and-needles sensation that came with body parts falling asleep hit her limbs full force, she rolled over in her sleep. _'Guess it's about time to join the circus of my life. Fan-freakin'-tastic.'_

When the hole in her torso made itself known, prompting the memories of her last conscious moments to come flipping through her head in black-and-white movie style, she jackknifed into a sitting position, eyes wide. _'Trigon's guts, I'm **alive**?!'_

She immediately winced, closing her eyes and laying back down in a resting position at the sensation of a two-by-four being driven all the way through her torso. Unfortunate that she knew what that felt like, and recognized the feeling, but moving on.

"Excuse me, miss?" She gulped on instinct, partially to soothe the pain away, partly in reaction to the sudden voice. When she had jerked up a second ago, she hadn't seen anybody around... As a matter of fact, it looked like she was on a moving bus somewhere, not even in the Tower anymore. Which would explain the sounds of an engine starting earlier.

That did _not_ explain everything. Hadn't she just been attacked? Where were the others? Were they safe? Why did she feel like something was terribly _wrong_? She might not have openly voiced these questions, but it was implied.

"Could you help me with this?" The voice continued, ignorant of her inner train of thought. "I can never seem to get past the fifth column of squares..."

Hearing what might have been paper shoved close to her face (or at least, her ear), she decided her best option would be to fake being dead. Shouldn't be too hard with the hole in her body, right?

"Come on, pleeeease? I know it probably isn't the best time, but I _really_ need your help." Being sarcastic and unable to resist responding for too long by nature, her reply was sharp, instantaneous.

"Are you dying?"

"No."

"Then ask someone else."

"Come on, 'ask someone else'? Believe me, I _would_, but they always act like they don't see me! Been that way for a while, but hey, if they wanna play, I can _play_ dammit." The whining, the off-handed, somewhat uncaring way of speaking, the underlying heat behind the words; why did they seem so familiar? "Besides, you're the first person who has obviously heard me in a long time! Help a guy out here!"

"No."

"And why not?"

"You might be finally going crazy and I'm just a figment of your imagination, luring you into insanity?" She tried. It had sounded good in her head. He (since the voice was definitely not feminine enough to be a she) snorted in disbelief.

"I would trust you on that if I hadn't gone crazy a long time ago! But even assuming that I _wasn't_ already loony, what's your point?"

She sighed, winced at the pain that simple action caused, and finally cracked her eyes open again to see... a half-filled sudoku puzzle hanging down in front of her face.

She stared, blinked.

"No wonder nobody will help you, you're doing it in pen," she groaned, eyes betraying her tone by continuing to scan the page appraisingly.

"Well, _duh_. What, girls these days don't like guys that have confidence in themselves?"

"I am _not_ the girl to ask, but from what I've heard? No, not really."

"Hmm. I think you're right about not being the girl to ask about this." She resisted the temptation to roll her eyes. "But even_ you _gotta admit, Rae, it's pretty cool how I got it all right so far, huh?"

"Don't do that."

"Right, sorry _Raven_."

"No, I mean about sounding so sure about yourself. Don't do that." She sat up on the seat, grabbed the paper herself, engrossed in the puzzle now. "It's disturbing, especially so since you do seem to have been on the right path. Impressive, as you said, considering... your pen?" A black pen dropped into her waiting hand and she began immediately.

"So, where you from?"

"Another dimension. Where am I now...?"

"Well, leave it to say that you're not in Cali anymore!" She paused for a second, projected a silence that said _'Are you kidding me?'_ After a moment, her companion continued.

"Fine, fine, welcome to Darkside, the flipside of the Brightside!" Another silence. "Seriously. I didn't name it, and I don't question _why_ it's named that. My advice? Don't ask. Probably stays cool that way." She shrugged, continuing the puzzle.

"So, how long you been playing the game? You're pretty good."

"Heard of it a while ago, never really saw it being played. But playing it personally? Just since last week."

"Well damn, you some kind of prodigy or somethin'?" She had finished the eighth row already, showing no signs of stopping.

"Or something. Just a girl who likes solving puzzles, here. I like them; puzzles, mysteries. Fun to figure out. Not like humans." A laugh from the seat behind her.

"Oh I can see that much!" Ninth row, last two squares.

"Can you, now? Done." She cleared her throat, handed the puzzle back to it's owner without looking up. "Got any more?"

She was disappointed in herself; here she was, having done someone else's brain-work, played their whole game for them, and she was asking for another. The only brightside was that she'd kept the anxiety out of her voice. She wasn't altogether sure the same went for her facial expression.

She blinked, a little depressed as an empty hand was presented to her. Then she blinked again, realizing that it was offered for her to shake. Raven raised an eyebrow as she looked to the side, spying a dirty-blond, dark-skinned teen grinning at her from across the isle. He shrugged apologetically.

"Don't have anymore today, but I'll get them to you next time we see each other, eh? Name's Gar." She stared for a moment before taking his hand with a small smile.

"Raven. Nice to meet you, er, Gar. And _when_ might I see you 'again'? Are we parting ways anytime soon?" A single, solid question nagged in the back of her brain, past the fuzziness that had taken refuge in her mind; why did he look so familiar?

"Aw, I don't know..." He looked down bashfully, probably blushing as he scratched the back of his neck. "Hey, are you okay?" She blinked at the sudden concern in her voice, the growing sense of panic on his face. She gave him a look that said _'I'm sorry, what are you talking about?'_

He pointed at her stomach.

She looked down.

Saw the hole, something white that might have been her spine, something dark that had to be the seat behind her.

Thought to herself, _'Hmm, shouldn't my powers have started healing that by now? Scratch that, shouldn't I be dead from blood loss? What blood loss?'_

Had enough time to say, "Not sure. That doesn't look good--"

**_Bm-BMM..._**

Felt what had to be her heartbeat, but amplified by a hundred, pounding one (final?) time.

Blacked out to the voice of her new friend, screaming bloody murder for someone to help her.

* * *

When the junior-assassin-slash-monster-hunter (in training) normally made her way to her scene, she did not truly expect to find anything worth reporting, let alone fighting. She could hope for it, dream of it as much as she wanted, yes, this was true; however, the odds were against her catching anything stronger than a low-level grunt of a monster. On a normal day, at least.

Professionals in what passed for psychiatry would initially classify this as a case of self-conditioned low self-esteem. Nel would much rather call it the story of her life. The reason why? What, a perfectly healthy teenage adolescent hitting puberty isn't allowed to make reasonable assumptions based on past experience?!

Yeah, you better back away slowly/roll your eyes and say "whatever."

However, as should be apparent, today is not a normal day, least of all for her. As she leapt through the trees, twin blades strapped to her back and twin chains of throwing stars looped over her shoulders, it could be said that she was truly dressed to kill.

Hands pressed together with eyes wide open on her path, she prayed to whatever gods were listening that whatever her target was, that it gave her a good fight. After all, it wouldn't do for _her_ to come back only to find she had gotten rusty in her absence.

_Will it be a big one? Please let it be a big one. They usually aren't half-bad for a good challenge, and if there's anything left, they always taste good... well, no, not the bugs, those things are nasty. Maybe a nice-sized bird-thing...? Nah, this one's in the graveyard trap... that's a grounded one, isn't it? Even then, those things are not as stupid as they look... Hmm..._

_Wonder what Seth's doing right now? We're gonna eat good tonight!_

Even if she lived a million years, she could not have prepared for what was about to happen. Might have predicted it happening to someone else, but never expected.

* * *

The first thing Logan noticed when he woke up was the cold. Well, not the cold per se, seeing as it was warm outside; rather he noticed his lack of clothing.

Except for the swimming trunk/jean shorts he'd been breaking in just today (trial by salt-water, also known as the beach), the goggles around his neck (Cy and Rob had challenged him to a "fair" race in the water whenever they got there; this included the non-usage of powers), and the fingerless gloves the others had forced on him for his birthday, he was pretty much, well, naked.

Of course, _this_ is not what he found strange. Rather, what the heck was he doing _outside_, obviously not at the beach? Better yet, when and how had he fallen asleep?

He shook his head to clear it of the fuzziness that came with just waking up. In doing so, he remembered that, last time he checked, he had been in Raven's room. Which he wasn't now. Well, if the strangely-colored sky and the hard surface against his back were any clues.

A quick glance around ascertained another theory of his; if he was no longer in Raven's room, he had to be in her mirror-slash-portal-to-her-brain-thing, right? Wrong. At the moment, there were no evil toucans from Mars trying to eat his heart out, or swirly portal-slash-door-things in the middle of nowhere, or multicolored clones running around/moping/totally beating the (bleep) out of anything that moved, so that was a pretty good assumption for the time being.

The presence of aging tombstones and several uprooted trees would have only done half the job in reassuring him of this undeniable fact. However, Logan did not take the time to register this (nor the fact that he was in a formerly-closed coffin lying next to a skeleton), seeing as he was still stuck in the "Wait, why was I in Raven's room?" phase.

After eliminating the theory that he had been trying to offer the dark Titan some tofu, he muttered "Pardon me," to the skeleton and hopped out of the casket to pace.

After deciding that coaxing her out for a game of laser tag with the others had to be a _little_ far-fetched, he took up a thinking pose atop one of the grave markers.

After reasoning that it _definitely_ had something to do with pie, the green teen took a nap in the middle of the open space, thankfully not on top of one of the graves.

After roughly three seconds of that, he jerked up, hands in front of him in a strangling motion, face set in a dark scowl.

"That stinkin' lizard-humping bastard!! Where-- uhhh..." He blinked, stared blankly at the unbelievably long, brown legs reaching over the headstone in front of him, close enough that he could count the individual hairs on the legs... well, if they hadn't been completely covered in fur, that is. Stared as eyes trained on him, legs all solidly on the ground, head hovering towards him.

Stared at the... six... eight... no, _ten_ milky grey eyes that were now only a foot away from his face. His eye twitched when the mandibles clicked, dripped something dark that most definitely wasn't drool. He glanced to the sides again, up, and down with a growing frown on his face as the "face" swayed lazily from side to side. The scale wasn't exact, but he could have _sworn_ he recognized it from one of his animal books... It clicked suddenly.

"_Rhabidosa rabida?_" The eyes focused on him. He blinked, cocked his head tot he side as he saw a tail swinging behind the head. "Dude..."

That was as far as he got before it lunged forward.

* * *

Malchior stared at the reflection in the crystal-clear lake, two-toned hair falling into unbelieving eyes. Shocked at the appearance. Ignorant of the cautious glares from the inhabitants of the forest around him.

After such a long time with no definite form (not counting the thing with Raven, _that_ could bear being forgotten), one would think that the dragon would still be in the throes of registering all six senses instead of just one. Even if they were the senses of a _human_, and a small one at that.

_However_, with what could only be tears building behind the eyes, the one sense of sight may have been too much.

Believing that the demoness would _probably_ destroy the book upon discovering that the boy was missing (regardless of the consequences), Malchior was taking a big risk - after all, willingly falling under the control of a cursed spell-book _while_ imprisoned within it was just _asking_ for trouble.

_However_, so was tricking a shape-shifting creature of questionable sanity into going _inside_ said book (although truth be told, that had not been completely the dragon's fault). After a heated debate with survival as the subject -which took all of a minute, all consequences be damned- it became apparent that the only viable course of action was... to go rescue the green moron. Which required going to sleep on a wholly spiritual level (something Malchior had refrained from up until now, mind you).

Which left little chance of waking up without outside help.

Translation: very dangerous for all involved, namely Malchior and the shape-shifting idiot. But mostly Malchior.

_However_, having taken the necessary rushed precaution (substituting an amnesiac-yet-awake Rorek to look out for Raven in his stead), the dragon not only thought itself to be in control and out of danger, but quite the genius to boot. For all of a second.

That's how long it took to hit the virtual "ground" of the book's world. At which point a humanified mythical creature took a much-needed-yet-short nap.

Upon waking up, _however_...

The young, pale figure roared defiance into the air, disturbing several... things -things that had no business existing- into taking flight. However, as much opposed to the battle-cry any semi-immortal dragon would envy, although it reverberated through the air for miles, it was several tones higher pitched than it should have been, resembling a shriek more than anything.

Oh, that, and it ended in pitiful sobs any creature anywhere (except maybe an emo crocodile) would be ashamed of. The gist of the meaning of these actions is most accurately translated as the following:

"WHY ME?!"

* * *

_cM676: Ah, that was nice._

_BB: o.o What have you done?!_

_Raven: (whacks cRaZyMaN676) Are you TRYING to kill me?!_

_cM676: Er... I'm in control here?_

_Raven: Why is that a question?!_

_BB: (reading letter) If you want to see us alive by the next chapter, review or... the green one gets it. (stops reading) What? Gets what?! And why me first?!  
_

_Raven: Anyway, that's all for today. Who are all these strange people coming out of nowhere?_

_Malchior: WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME?!_

_cM676: WE ARE NOT TAKING INTERVIEWS, SO STOP IT!! (turns to readers) Sorry bout that. Ja ne!  
_

**cRaZyMaN676 Out, yo!!**


End file.
